It forms a civil parish with the nearby village of Upend to its north.A rich Cambridgeshire landowner named Oswi and his wife Leofflaed gave the parish of Kirtling to Ely Abbey around 1000.All Saints Parish Church is a Grade I listed building, dating back to the 13th century.[3] His granddaughter Dudleya North, an orientalist and linguist, was buried here in 1712.John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute built almshouses in Kirtling in 1842 in memory of his late wife Lady Maria (died 1841).